Deportation: Not Just an American Phenomenon

     We all have that one house guest. The one that just will not leave. We all know the feelings of fatigue, frustration, and even guilt when forced to confront the personal conflict that one faces when their dear friend or relative will simply not see themselves out. Unfortunately, this happens on an international level as well, however, the stakes are much higher and the reasons for wanting to push people out have much more to do with prejudice than simply needing to spend some time alone to recharge one's metaphorical battery. The fatigue and frustration of behalf of the "hosts, aka the state leaders, is quite prevalent and the guilt is nowhere to be seen. Who are these terrible hosts? Believe it or not, the culprit here is Israel, the land founded on refugees fleeing persecution. Who are the "annoying house guests"? Tens of thousand of Africans from Eritrea and Sudan after a 2005 Egyptian crackdown forced these people to abandon their homes and seek shelter in another state. It is now that these people will, once again, be forced out of their current lifestyle and sent off to another country or face imprisonment due to what can only be bias toward those who do not practice Judaism. As an American living at the heart of a land based on openness and diversity, I ask the world, when will this religious persecution end? I am not saying that religious tolerance is blooming in America, but that fact that our Constitution provides safety for those who practice Christianity, among other religions, is proof that the government should know its limits. It should be apparent that no one has the right to grant or deny someone the right to live in their country based on their religious affiliation.
      So why is Israel, the same Israel that provided sanctuary for the Jewish people fleeing the Holocaust, so adamant to deport these non-Jewish refugees? Well, according to Israel, the reasoning is purely economic. There have been many complaints that foreign workers are turning the bustling city of Tel Aviv into a slum. I understand that job displacement is real. Citizens have the right to work and support themselves and any threat to this concept is something that any politician should domestically try to modify. Israel however, while trying to play off as job displacement, is not wording their concerns very tactfully. Enter Interior Minister Aryeh Dery, who tweeted, "In contrast to the fake news, there is no danger to the labor infiltrators we are deporting to third countries". I would like to point out, among this, the use of the now infamous infamous "fake news" phrase, the fact that Dery called these migrants "labor infiltrators". These words are nothing short of pure ignorance. What Mr. Dery fails to understand is that these people did not willingly come to Israel. The only reason that they are fleeing there is because, if they stayed in their respective homelands, they would be tortured and imprisoned. Surely this is something that an individual of Jewish faith can and should understand.
      It is here that I would like to elaborate on the fact that this situation positively drips with irony. Those who practice Judaism are, as I have stated clearly, all too familiar with exile and persecution. There are multiple holiday, as a result of this persecution, to celebrate the strength and resilience of the people who have been treated unfairly. The fact that they would deny those who face jail time and torture in their native countries a safe place to live and prosper should not bode well in the international community. Refugees should not be subject to the same treatment as illegal immigrants and their faith should be completely left out of it. As long as the refugees go through the process to become citizens and pay their taxes, their personal faith should not be central to the argument on whether they should stay or face deportation. It is now up to the world to put aside any personal prejudices and share this earth, as it was intended for all humans.